North Carolina Under Attack Over Voter ID Act

In what has all the hallmarks of a racially motivated attack, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a judicial battle on September 30 that is intended to deprive North Carolina citizens of their sovereignty as a state and of their right to establish reasonable statutory measures for determining who is legally entitled to vote.

Holder is suing N.C. in federal court, seeking to overturn the recently passed Voter IdentificationVerification Act (VIVA), which will requirevoters to show ID when casting ballots in the state. By doing so, he is attempting todisenfranchise the state’s primarily white voters, asrepresented by the General Assembly. TheNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Unionand the Advancement Project already have filedsimilar lawsuits.

Several aspects of the bill that are intended toreduce voter fraud—whether voting by non-citizensor double-voting by unscrupulous individuals—have been targeted by the federal forces: requirement of suitable photographic ID in order to vote, discontinuance of same-day voterregistration during early voting, a reduction by one week of the early voting period and repeal of preregistrationby 16- and 17-year-olds. VIVA also providesthat all persons—including college students —typically must now vote in the precinct wherethey are registered, and new requirements are establishedfor the counting of provisional ballots.

It seems that, in the federal government’s view, attempting to ensure that only qualified electors exercise the vote is somehow racially discriminatory against blacks and Latinos, even though no mention of race or other identifying factor of person is mentioned in the law. The act applies equally to everyone.

Responding to Holder, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory stated, “I believe if showing a voter ID is good enough and fair enough for our own president [Obama] in Illinois, then it’s good enough for the people in North Carolina.”

A review of the 16-page VIVA text by this writer revealednothing dissimilar from laws in force in other states,nor anything discriminatory against a class of persons legitimately entitled to vote. In fact, contrary tomainstream media assertions, VIVA contains measures to ensurethat every registered person who presents himselfcan cast at least a provisional ballot, with multiplelevels of review to ensure its validity. Several formsof photo ID are acceptable, free ID cards are available in some cases and expired ID cardsmay be used in certain circumstances.

This has not stopped the mainstream media,however, from engaging in irresponsible and falseattacks using Holder’s press statement as a boilerplate.So much for independent journalism.

While the Department of Justice (DoJ) will attempt to show “discriminatory effect” of the law, which doesnot go into effect until 2016 in order to allow forvoter education and obtaining of proper ID, Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires that“discriminatory intent” must be shown in the law, a hurdle that will be difficult for Holder to jump.

The announcement of the lawsuit against N.C. is only the latest in a series of attacks bythe federal government on states’ constitutional andnatural rights to regulate elections within their borders. The DoJ also has gone aftersimilar laws in Texas. Holder has also threatened tomove against Kansas laws as well, where photo IDs have been required since 2012 and where this year itis now required to provide proof of citizenshipwhen registering to vote, if one intends to do so in state and local elections. Kansas Governor Sam Brownbackshowed no sign of submitting to Holder’s harassment in the heartland state, which has movedto the forefront of the states’ rights battle.

Along with Obamacare, gun freedom and restrictions on the heinous crime of abortion, voting laws are at the center of a pivotal battle between defenders of the Constitution and totalitarian bureaucrats in the federal capital.

Ronald L. Ray is a freelance author residing in the free state of Kansas. He is a descendant of several patriots of the American War for Independence.

Required fields are marked with an *. Your email address will not be published. In order to ensure your comment is not lost due to an incorrect CAPTCHA entry, you may want to copy your comment before you click POST COMMENT. All comments containing hyperlinks will be held in moderation until they are formatted properly, but will be posted.